Bleacher Report - Articles by Dan Hunter

The Tragic Life of Alexis Arguello

Dan Hunter — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:14:48 -0400

The Tragic Life of Alexis Arguello

I learned last night of the death of boxing legend Alexis Arguello.

Coming as it has in the wake of the equally tragic deaths of pop icon Micheal Jackson and TV and film star Farah Fawcett, it is an uneasy and sad time for anyone who lived through and enjoyed the amazing decade that was the '80s.

I am in my 40s, and these three people were a part of my life for very different reasons.

I remember Farah Fawcett, not just for the iconic Charlies Angels poster that apparently sold 12 million copies, but mainly because she surprised everyone who had dismissed her as talentless by proving she was actually a hell of an actress. First in the TV movie The Burning Bed, and then in the film Extremities, the latter earning her a Golden Globe best actress nomination.

Micheal Jackson was simply THE music phenomenon of my lifetime. And I´m a hard rock fan!

I was too young to remember the impact of The Beatles and Elvis, but I was very much aware of Jackson's all encompassing, record breaking achievements.

I know its a something of a cliché to say it, but some of his songs were genuinely soundtracks to parts of my life, as I would think they were to millions of others.

And then there was Alexis Arguello. "El Flaco Explosivo." The explosive thin man.

What a fighter. What a gentleman. His two wars with Aaron Pryor were cornerstones of '80s boxing; just unbelievable intense, incredibly exciting bouts.

The '80s was the most exciting decade of boxing that I have experienced as a fight fan so far in my lifetime.

Names like Leonard, Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Tyson, Holmes, Sanchez, Gomez, Saad Muhammad, Pryor all spring to mind. Alexis Arguello was of that ilk. He was a genuine superstar in boxing´s golden decade.

To any fight fan of the '80s with intellectual delusions, Alexis Arguello was the fighter we wanted to be.

He was pure class, both inside and outside the ring. He was intelligent and articulate. His boxing style was almost European with his upright stance, high defense, and steady jab.

Not for him the bobbing, rock-em sock-em style favored by the South Americans and Mexicans that were his contemporaries. He was like a chess player in the ring. Alexis´ style was almost dull in comparison.

I say almost, because Alexis Arguello had something else in his repertoire—he punched like a mule kicked. He could end a fight at any moment, with his vicious straight right, or with his lethal left hook.

He became a three-time world champion at feather, junior-light and lightweight. The list of fighters he defeated reads like a who´s who of the great '70s and '80s little men.

Legra, Olivares, Escalera, Limon, Chacon, Boza-Edwards, Watt, Mancini, to name just a few. The bout with American Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini was an exciting brawl that broke Arguello in the United States.

American audiences saw first hand the Nicaraguan's ruthless skills in the ring, and also his tremendous heart and compassion after his victory, when he embraced the battered Mancini and wished him all the best for the future, and all in perfect English.

Overnight, a superstar was born.

Ironically, he will be always best remembered for a defeat. His first fight with WBA junior-welterweight champion Aaron Pryor in 1982 was a huge event.

Arguello was on course for a record breaking fourth title in four separate weight classes. The bout was the biggest in the history of the junior-welterweight division at that time. The pair split a purse of over three million dollars, a division record.

And what a fight it turned out to be.

Pryor set a frenetic pace, and Arguello had to fight out of his comfort zone just to survive.

The early rounds were all Pryor, but by the half way stage, Arguello was right back in the fight. Pryor had only boxed beyond 10 rounds once before, but Arguello had done so 10 times.

In the 13th, Arguello hit Pryor with the punch of the fight, a booming straight right that rocked Pryor's head so far back, for a split-second he was staring straight up at the ring lights.

And yet, Pryor still stayed on his feet.

Before the 14th round, Pryor´s trainer, Panama Lewis, did something that has gone down in the annals of the great ring controversies.

Rejecting the usual water bottle he had been using on his fighter, he ordered his second to "give me the other one! The one I made up!"

And thus was born the great "black bottle" theory, which is right up there with Roswell and the Grassy Knoll as conspiracies go.

Whatever was in that bottle, Pryor appeared suddenly energized, and stormed out of his corner to wage war. And just over one minute later, an unanswered volley of 24 punches to the head of Arguello left the referee with no alternative but to stop the contest.

Arguello had finished on his feet, but now slumped to the floor.

If ever a man had given his very last ounce for the cause, it was Alexis Arguello that night.

He never really got over that loss, both as a boxer and as a man. There was a rematch with Pryor a year later, and once again it was a huge, action-packed fight, this time ending in a tenth round defeat.

Once again, he had come up short in his quest for his fourth title.

Once again, he had lost to Pryor.

There were two comeback attempts, the first a couple of years later, the second when he was in his 40s.

When he turned his back on boxing, he had compiled an 82-8 record with 65 KOs. He had held three world titles, and probably should held have held four.

To fight fans of the '80s, Arguello was the epitome of class.

He was solid, respectable. Above reproach. But like Micheal Jackson and Farah Fawcett, despite gaining the respect of his peers and the adulation of his fans, his life was beginning to unravel.

When he first quit boxing in the mid-80s, he left Miami and returned to his native Nicaragua.

Arguello took up arms and fought for the US-backed Contra´s against the Sandinistas. Later, he switched sides and joined the Sandinista's.

Disillusioned with retirement, he appears to have sought solace in booze, cocaine, and women.

There have been many, many stories that have appeared over the last 20 years of Arguello and his constant battle against his demons: Many may be lies, but no doubt some were true.

What always made it so hard to read was knowing what a classy human being he had been, and deep inside, still was. He appears to have battled depression for many years.

As long ago as 1985, he told a Sports Illustrated reporter that he had contemplated suicide. Indeed, in the same interview he described how his father had been an alcoholic who had attempted suicide.

Amazingly, he turned his life around. He regained his self respect, and then the respect of others, so much so that late last year he was elected Major of his nation´s capitol, Managua.

For a man who was on the skids just a few years earlier, this should have been all the vindication he would need to see out the rest of his days.

But no.

The demons that had haunted him for most of his life hadn't really left him at all. They were merely sleeping.

And last night, they came to visit him one more time.

Alexis Arguello 1952-2009 R.I.P

Why Amir Khan´t Be Complacent!

Dan Hunter — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:56:50 -0400

Why Amir Khan’t be complacent!
Young Amir mustn’t underestimate tough Ukranian Kotelnik,
writes Dan Hunter

Make no mistake about it - Amir Khan´s July 18th challenge for Andriy Kotelnik´s WBA junior welterweight title at Manchester’s M.E.N Arena is no forgone conclusion.

22 year old Khan will start as a firm favorite to win his first world title, but the Hamburg based Ukrainian is tough and durable, with a wealth of experience both as an amateur and a pro.

We UK fight fans know all about young hotshot Amir Khan, the good-looking kid from Bolton who fights like a young Oscar De La Hoya. We know how he seems huge at his weight, dwarfing all of his opponents, and overpowering them with a relentless combination of speed and power.

We also suspect, but don’t like to dwell on, the possibility that his chin might be less than concrete.

Just two fights ago, Khan was knocked out in 54 seconds by the oddly named but vicious punching Colombian Breidis Prescott. By any reckoning, this was a crushing setback. Khan appeared to have a serious flaw in his boxing makeup, one that would hamper his aspirations of reaching the very top.

Let´s take a closer look at what happened that night less than a year ago in Manchester.
Both fighters came out fast, gloves held high. Both men are tall for lightweights, but Khan looks much bigger than Prescott.
Twenty seconds into the fight, Prescott catches Khan high on the temple with a scything left hook. From that moment on, the fight is effectively over; Khan’s equilibrium is completely shot, and from there on in he is fighting on instinct.
Seconds later, a defenseless Khan is caught by another of those hooks. If you haven’t seen the punch, check it out on Youtube. You can watch it in slowmo if you so wish. Look at the amount of leverage Prescott gets on the punch before it connects. That punch would have finished off any lightweight in the world.
Khan went down in a heap, but amazingly, got straight back up! If this kid was indeed fighting on instinct, what proud, brave fighting instincts he possesses.
The fight should have been stopped, but Khan’s resolute manner despite his brains being scrambled, coupled with the enormity of the event contributed to the referee allowing Prescott’s final assault, and one final devastating left hook.

Amir Khan doesn’t have a glass jaw. His chin is fine. A vicious blow to the temple will incapacitate the most durable of fighters.

Cast your mind back to two of a young Mike Tyson’s best victories, against Trevor Berbick and Larry Holmes. Both these men possessed sound chins. Berbick in particular was known for his durability.

A Tyson left hook to the temple late in the second round knocked Berbick down THREE TIMES! If you don't believe me, check it out.
As for Holmes, it was the fourth round of their heavyweight title fight, and Larry was finally up on his toes and bouncing around the ring until a booming right hand to the temple floored him. He was up at four, and then staggered around like a drunk in a storm until another right knocked him out cold.

There is no defense against a blow to the temple!

After the Prescott disaster, Khan’s promoter sacked trainer Jorge Rubio and took the huge step of employing THE current trainer in world boxing; Freddie Roach.
Khan began training in Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Gym in Los Angeles. He sparred regularly with boxing´s man of the moment; Manny Pacquiao.
The results of such a radical re-vamp were soon to be seen. In his last fight, Khan completely overwhelmed seven-time world champion and future hall of fame-er Marco Antonio Barrera in five rounds; the referee rescuing the hapless Barrera, officially due to a horrendous gash on his forehead.

Khan’s win was reminiscent of De la Hoya’s first fight with Julio Cesar Chavez in 1996. Oscar stopped Chavez on cuts in four rounds.
Granted, Chavez had spent most of his career at junior-welter, and had lost only one fight to Frankie Randall at that point.
In comparison Barrera was having only his third fight at lightweight, and had suffered six defeats, including dropping decisions to Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez in 2007.

In both cases, the younger fighter overwhelmed his vastly more experienced and still dangerous opponent using speed and power and elusiveness. When they were tagged, they shrugged it off and got on with the job at hand.
In both bouts, the younger fighter left the ring victorious; the older fighter left the ring with a bloody mask for a face.

Amir and Oscar were 22 and 23 respectively; Marco and JC were 35 and 34.

31 year old Kotelnik is in his ninth year as a pro. Although the bulk of his 34 fights (31-1-1, 13 ko’s) have been fought in Germany, he hasn’t been afraid to travel, and has boxed in Hungary, the Ukraine, Poland, Venezuela, France and England.

The Khan fight will be his fourth in the UK. He lost a razor thin decision in Nottingham to Junior Witter in his challenge for Witter’s European title in 2005.
In 2007 Souleymane M’baye held him to a draw in Liverpool for M’baye’s WBA belt. It was third time lucky for Kotelnik when he battered gutsy but wide open Gavin Reese to defeat in the twelfth round in Cardiff, claiming the Welshman’s WBA junior-welter title in the process.

Kotelnik has made two successful defences of his title, defeating Japan’s Norio Kimura on points in the Ukraine, and then in February of this year he hung on to his title by the skin of his teeth with a split decision against dangerous Argentinian puncher Marcos Rene Maidana in Germany.
Maidana entered the ring with a 25-0 (24 ko’s) record, so if nothing else, once again Kotelnik proved his innate toughness and durability.

The Ukrainian stands 5´7´´ to Khan’s 5´10´´, and will no doubt be considerably lighter on fight night than his big boned opponent. Khan’s physique seems to scream welterweight, and he will weigh at least 147 lbs in the ring. But Kotelnik is cagey, as well as tough. He doesn’t get tagged too often, but when he does he covers up and counters well.

An interesting sidebar; Both Kotelnik and Khan were Olympic silver medallists, and both lost in the final to the same man, Mario Kinderlan; Kotelnik in Sydney in 2000, Khan in Athens in 2004.

On fight night Khan (20-1, 15 ko’s) must box with patience and precision against Kotelnik. The Ukranian is unlikely to trouble Amir with his power, but at the same time, Khan might not be able to add to his list of knockouts. Khan’s advantages in size, power and speed should on paper see him through, but Kotelnik has the style to break up Khan’s rhythm.

Khan desperately needs to win the WBA belt, a title that is in effect a key to a private club that has names like Pacquiao, Hatton, Cotto, Mosley and Mayweather as it´s exclusive membership. This fight should be highly competitive and surprisingly close, but with Freddy Roach in his corner, Amir Khan will grab the first of what could be many world titles.

Don't Count out Maria!

Dan Hunter — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:24:10 -0400

Don’t count out Maria!

The 2004 champ may be set for a dramatic comeback

By Dan Hunter

SW19 opened for business on Monday.

Roger Federer started the proceedings dressed like an extra from An Officer and a Gentleman. Stripped for action, he won comfortably in straight sets. So did Venus and Serena. Djokovic struggled and Blake fell. We looked forward to seeing Andy Murray, but we couldn't quite shrug off the spectre of losing our greatest star from the competition; the incomparable Rafa.

Oh, and almost as a footnote, Maria Sharapova, generously seeded 24th, rallied from 4-1 down in the first set to defeat Ukrainian Viktoriya Kutuzova.

Just two years ago you couldn’t get away from Maria Sharapova. The 6´1´´ Russian stunner with the Floridian accent was the highest profile, highest earning female athlete on the planet, arguably of all time, with an annual income in excess of 25 million dollars.

If you´d picked up a magazine, chances are, she’d be in it or on it - either wearing a swimsuit on the cover of Sports Illustrated or FHM, or advertising beauty products in Vogue or Cosmopolitan. If you turned on the TV, you would see her advertising anything from deodorant to video games.

And best of all, she could actually play. Boy could she play. Anyone who saw her announce herself to the rest of the world when as a relatively unknown 17 year old, she completely annihilated the previously invincible Serena Williams, blowing her away 6-1 6-4 with an awesome display of controlled power tennis, would testify to that.

By August 2005 she was world number 1. She took the US Open in 2006, and the Australian Open in January of last year. But by then a chronic shoulder injury was beginning to seriously hamper her serve. In September of last year she announced she would take the rest of the year off. During that time she underwent shoulder surgery. She didn’t pick up a tennis racket for seven months.

In May of this year, Maria Sharapova finally returned to action. She had been out of the game for almost eleven months, and she was ranked 126 in the world. In her subsequent three tournaments, her progress has been steady, if not quite spectacular. Two quarterfinals and a semi in Edgbaston have shown flashes of the Sharapova of old. They were there again on Monday. She has, at least for now, lost a little power on her serve. But her ground strokes, always the cornerstone of her game, are starting to look ominous.

Tennis is littered with stories of great champions, seemingly out of sorts or on the slide or completely over the hill, coming from nowhere to claim a Grand Slam title.

Think Andre Agassi winning the 1994 US Open unseeded. Think Goran Ivanisevic doing the unthinkable and winning Wimbledon in 2001 while ranked 126 in the world, and needing a wild card. Think Pete Sampras, stumbling around on the tour like a punch drunk fighter for over two years, then suddenly remembering what a great player he was as he blazed a trail to the US Open title in 2002. And more recently, Serena Williams, unseeded, out of shape and over the hill, or so we all thought. Before our disbelieving eyes, she defied all the normal criteria of sport, and a number 81 ranking in the world, to take the 2007 Australian Open title, beating guess who in the final? Maria Sharapova.

Maria Sharapova seems to have been around forever. She is in fact just 22 years old. She is now up to number 59 in the world.

She is not over the hill. She is not out of shape.

If she really, truly believes she can win Wimbledon, it will take something very special indeed to stop her. If she catches a hot streak, don’t be too surprised if she is in the opposite court to a Williams sister on the final Saturday of the tournament.

dandavehunter@gmail.com